The Greatest of All Time
by Bhillautigers34
Summary: Percy is a struggling high school Junior basketball player. He's not the popular one, or the stud athlete. He's just your normal 16-17 year old. Can he change his life and become the next big thing? AU. Mortal. Focused on sports. No fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, this is my second fanfic. Sorry, I took down the 1****st**** one because my writing was absolutely HORRIBLE.**

**On with the show.**

If you ask me if I want to be the next Michael Jordan, I'll say no.

Do I want to be the greatest of all time?

Absolutely.

**Line Break**

I walked up to Coach Carter on Judgment Day to find out if I had made the team.

"Percy, you made the team. Jayvee."

My heart dropped. After 12 years, I had only made jayvee as a Junior.

"Hey, Perce, don't feel bad. You work hard and achieve stardom on jayvee, I might just call you up to Varsity. After all, I liked you better than anyone else out there."

"Alright Coach. Thanks for your consideration."

"Perce, I ever need another Point Guard, I'll call on you."

"Thanks. See ya coach."

Out in the hallway, my friend Nico greeted me with a "How'd it go, Percy?" I responded with a loud "F**K!" and I kicked a metal foldable chair so hard that it folded and skidded 10 feet. "OK," Grover, my other friend, replied cautiously, not wanting to anger me anymore. "I made jayvee." "Well, that's a start," said Nico.

**Line Break**

The same thing happened when I got home. I went up to my room and started tearing down my posters of any other athlete, even Michael Jordan. I made a list of priorities.

SCHOOL. I had to have something to turn to if basketball didn't work out.

HARD WORK. Work longer and harder than anyone you've ever known.

PHYSICAL TRAINING. Run faster, go longer, jump higher, be stronger.

_I may not be the best now._

_But I will work hard._

_Look out, Jordan._


	2. Chapter 2

**Second Chapter, guys. PLEASE REVIEW.**

When I walked into the school, I immediately noticed a new girl who had blonde hair, gray eyes, and a nice tan. I instantly walked up to her. I had gained a rep as one of the nicest people in the school, partially because I always befriended new kids. I was really never mean to anybody because I didn't really find a point in it. I put on a smile and walked up to her.

"Hey, are you a new student?"

"Yeah?"

"My name's Percy Jackson," I said, putting my hand out.

"Annabeth Chase," she said, shaking my hand. My ADHD noticed that she was about half a foot shorter than me, since I was about 6'2".

"Can I see your schedule?" She handed me her schedule, and I looked over it.

"Hm… we've got all the same classes! I guess I'll show you around then."

"Alright."

When I was at my locker, which turned out to be next to hers, annoying popular Senior Bailey Johnson came skipping up to me. She was the only person I was mean to because she annoyingly asked me out every Friday.

"So, Perce babe, we still on tomorrow night?"

"No, and we never will be."

"But babe, I got to get some of those abs!"

I just shunned her, closed my locker, and was about to walk away with Annabeth until I felt a hand in my pants. I grabbed her arm and thrust it away while yelling, "WHAT THE F**K!?" Everybody turned their heads while I shouted, "Why did you stick your hand in my pants!?" Bailey looked around and ran away sobbing. Everyone in the hall stared at me for a while before they burst out laughing. I just said, "C'mon, Annabeth," and we walked off to 1st Period Music.

**Line Break**

At the end of the school day, I went to the locker room to get changed for practice. When I walked into the gym, the Varsity players stared at me as if I were an alien object.

"Jackson, what are you doing? This is a Varsity practice!" Coach yelled

"I know, Sir. I'm just getting extra practice in." Coach grinned at that.

"I like it! You see here, this is a role model! He only made Jayvee this year, but he's _determined_ to get better. The only way to do that is through practicing. And I bet he'll practice more than any of you will. That's why I think Jackson is gonna take over one of your jobs. Tell me, Stephens, what is the most important thing at this age?"

"Basketball, sir," Quinton replied. Coach Carter made a buzzer noise. "Jackson!"

"My studies, sir," I said. "Good kid! To be on this team, you will need to excel academically. Luke."

**Line Break**

I stayed for Jayvee practice, too. Coach shut the lights off while I was shooting.

"Time to go home, Jackson!" I just walked over, turned the lights on, and resumed shooting. "Jackson, would you be interested as a reserve for Bobby in tomorrow's game?"

"Of course! Why?"

"You're a leader and I need someone in case something happens to him."

"Thank you so much, Coach. Can I have the #2 jersey?"

"Sure, kid."

I get to play on Varsity.

_Look out Jordan._


	3. Chapter 3

**Third Chapter. Review because I really want to know how I'm doing.**

I sat on the bench, watching my team take a beating. When we went in for halftime, it was 47-29. Gregory High was winning. Halfway through the third quarter, we were trailing 52-40. Bobby, our Point Guard, tried to brace a fall with one hand. He was immediately rolling around in pain.

"Jackson!" I looked over at Coach.

"You're up!" I immediately jumped up and ripped off my sweats while Bobby was being helped into the locker room by the trainer.

_This is it. Your chance._

_Look out, Jordan._

David inbounded the ball to me. The ball felt not like a ball but an extension of my hand. I sized up, looking for shot opportunities. Brandon set a pick for me, and I utilized it. I drove down the baseline and slammed in a tomahawk dunk. _How's that for a first basket?_

10 point game. On their possession, I hounded their Point as soon as he crossed half court. This is what coached loved about me; I tortured the other team on defense. He eventually got frustrated and shoved me with one arm. The ref saw it and called a push off. I got the ball again. Immediately, David immediately started sprinting toward the basket, which caught his defender off guard. I tossed it up towards the rim and David snatched and jammed it in the basket. 8 point game. On the next possession, Luke lost his man through a screen and he drained a three. 11 point game. _Two can play that game._ I double-crossed my defender and drained a three before he could recover. Back to 8. I stole the inbound pass and laid it in, making it a 6 point margin. We went back and forth until it was all tied up at 79 with 3 seconds left. Coach drew up a play for David to inbound it to me for a quick shot off a screen. David inbounded the ball to me, and I pump faked and fired it to Quinton, who was wide open in the corner. He shot with 0.3 seconds left. The ball hit the far side of the rim, rolled around, sat on the back of the rim… and dropped in when the buzzer sounded. We Won! We mobbed Quinton in a dog pile and the students stormed the court. We walked back to the locker room where Coach had on a serious face. We all quieted down when Coach said, "Bobby has a broken wrist. He's done for the season."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4. Sorry that I haven't updated. If you read this story, please review. I really need to know how I'm doing. Thx 4 the advice, Unicorn Blast Pop. (Sorry, but why **_**that**_** name?)**

You could have heard a pin drop. Brandon, Bobby's best friend and our Shooting Guard, had tears silently rolling down his cheeks. I looked over into the other side of the room and saw Bobby laid out on the trainer's table. I got up and went to talk to him. Brandon quickly followed sniffling. When we got in there, Bobby asked,

"Did we come close?"

I said, "We won, actually. Quinton hit a buzzer beater." Bobby may have had a broken wrist and been in pain, but he actually managed a smile.

"How'd you do?" he asked.

"Okay. 10 points. You did a lot better, though," I said. I left the room after that. I could tell the two Seniors wanted some alone time. I felt bad for Bobby. He was so good. He was a great passer, he could drain the three, he was a good ball handler who got out of tough positions, he put the other team in foul trouble, and he was our Team Captain. Not to mention, this was his last game as a Goode High School Hawk. It kind of reminded me of Kevin Ware for Louisville. It was awful.

I was greeted by Grover, Nico, and Annabeth outside the Centennial Center (Our stadium). The three of us had immediately become great friends with Annabeth.

"What happened to him?" asked Grover.

"Broke his good wrist. Done for the season," I said, hanging my head. Everyone liked Bobby. He was nice, funny, and helped everyone out. Jesus Christ, it sounds like he died.

"Crap," said Nico, "Well, I saw that you got a double-double. 10 points, 10 assists. That was frickin' awesome."

"Thanks," I said. I was really out of it.

"Tell you what, I'll have you guys sleep over at my apartment tonight, since it's a Friday," said Annabeth.

"Is your apartment big enough?" asked Nico.

"I live in a penthouse," she stated simply.

Oh.

So, we all hopped in my '95 Ford pickup. (My parents could only afford a cheap car.) By the way, Annabeth is a full-on tomboy. If you didn't look at her and she had a guy's voice, you'd think that she was a guy. She loved watching sports, which we did all the time, she liked _playing_ sports (She's on the girl's basketball team), and she went to Taco Mac with us **(A/N: Taco Mac is a small, really popular sports bar chain in the Southeast. Made in Atlanta!)**. Unbelievable, right? That night, we had a blast as her dad was gone. (He's her only parent.) We debated on a movie until I chipped in _Hoosiers_. It was about a small high school in Indiana, where basketball is everything, in the 1950's called Hickory. A new coach comes in, and they lose until he brings in a star player in the area. They start winning, and they barely make it to the playoffs. They make it to the State Finals against an all-black powerhouse in Indianapolis, the largest high school in the state, who has a huge size and athletic advantage at each position. These guys with a 7-footer face off against an all-white team whose tallest player is 6'4". Their technique matches up well, and their star player hits the game-winner. It was a great movie, a classic.

**Line Break**

On Saturday night, I went out to a party. I planned on just having a little fun. But soon, people talked me into drinking.

Boy, did I ever.

I went up and joined the grind line between two insanely hot girls. Eventually, one of them grabbed with by the front of the shirt with one finger and led me upstairs. We got to a bedroom. She pushed me down onto the bed. I was too drunk to do anything but enjoy.

The whole time, I felt like I was on a cloud.

But then the cloud dissolved.

Standing in the doorway, looking at two 17 year olds having a make out session, was Annabeth Chase. I saw her out of the corner of my eye and pushed the girl off of me. Annabeth stormed away from me. I wasn't too drunk to know what was happening now. I had really started to like Annabeth. Kind of like a step-sibling. Anyway, I buttoned up my jeans, threw my shirt on, gave the girl a quick kiss, said good night, and raced down the hallway after Annabeth. With my near-sprinter speed, I caught up to her after a couple minutes. She was leaning her head on her forearms, which were on a telephone pole.

"Annabeth?" I said tentatively. She slowly turned around. I got as close as I could to a gasp, but it was just a drunk hiccup. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her blonde hair was tousled. She started to back away.

"Annabeth, wait, listen!" She turned and ran. I didn't try to catch her. I was really drunk and running just this far had tired me out. So, I went home. My mom wasn't home, so I went straight to my room and crashed.

Not really.

**Line Break**

I woke up to the sound of a really loud motorcycle passing by. I opened my eyes and looked around. I realized that it wasn't my room, but the room where…_it_ happened. I spotted a clock on the wall.

_8:00 a.m._

Crap, I had to get home, dress nicely, and get to Church by 9:30.

As I was getting out of the bed, my knee brushed against something warm.

It was a girl's back.

As I lifted up the covers, there were three more girls under them.

"Holy $#!7," I whispered.

I stood up on the spot, crouched, and leaped off the bed. I pet on my shirt and slipped on my shoes and socks, and ran out to my truck. As soon as I hot in, my head started pounding. I groaned. _Hangover_, I thought. I made sure to make slow and careful movements. I went to Church dressed up in a dress shirt and khakis. At the end of the Lord's Prayer **(A/N: Percy's Catholic and he goes to a Catholic private school.)**, I prayed for Annabeth to forgive me for last night's incident. After Church, I spotted her outside. I cautiously walked up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Do you –"

"Yes," she responded before I finished the sentence. Thank you, Lord. Looks like all the Sunday School finally paid off. She hugged me and said she understood that people got me into drinking and that I couldn't control it and got drunk off my ass.

"Thank you so much, Wise Girl."

"No prob."

"Hey, do you want to go to the Yankees game tonight?"

"Sure."

"OK. I'll ask Grover and Nico."

I spotted them tossing a football on the lawn.

"Hey guys, wanna go to the game?"

"Sure," they responded at the same time.

"My treat," I yelled back.

So we stayed there and threw the football around. I taught Annabeth to throw. Eventually we started a game of Tips. **(A/N: That's where you jump, catch the ball, and throw it while you're still in the air.)** I won by yelling out random Asian car companies at random times like Toyota, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, and Hyundai. The person about to catch would start laughing and drop the ball or make a bad throw. We had to get to Goode by 3:00 for Annabeth to warm up for her game, which was followed by mine. I was kind of an unofficial assistant coach for the girls. Annabeth played Shooting Guard, since she was about 5'7".Annabeth probably had about 15 assists. She didn't score a lot because she passed a lot more than she shot. But with ten seconds left, we were down by two. Coach called our final timeout.

"Jackson, you got a play?"

I snapped out of my shock and drew a play out on the white board.

"Okay, inbound the ball to Annabeth. I want you to pass it down to Bridget in the post with 5 seconds left. Bridget, fire it back out to Annabeth for the three as soon as the defender caves in. Annabeth, fire away."

Before the play started, I crossed myself. I looked over and saw Annabeth do the same. We made brief eye contact and I nodded and winked. Sure enough, when Annabeth passed it to the post, the defender crashed in for a double team. Annabeth squared up and shot it wide open. The ball snapped through the net right when the buzzer sounded. We won! I picked up Annabeth and spun her in a circle. After that, I had to go to the locker room to get changed. Coach went over our gameplan of boxing out on defense, crashing the offensive glass, getting a lot of fastbreak points, trapping in the corners, jumping the passing lanes, and shutting down their stars.

Finally, the ref called the players to the court. David, our 7-footer, lined up against a 6'10" kid for the tip. The ref tossed the ball in the air, and David tipped it back.

The ball was in my hands.

_Look out, Jordan._


	5. Chapter 5

**REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

**Chapter 3**

_Fast-Forward 4 months later_

"Number 2, a 6'5" Guard, Percyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Jacksonnnn!"

The Goode fans went nuts. It was the State Championship, and it was us, a 2A-sized school playing against the largest school in the state, the undefeated Columbia Wildcats at Madison Square Garden. When we lined up facing each other, they looked incredibly intimidating. They were huge. Their Point, Tahj Shamsid-Deen, was about 5'10". Short, but he was supposedly one of the best Point Guards in the nation who had a great mid-range game. So I was matched up against him. I had a height advantage in every game now because I had now grown 3 inches since the season started. Their 2 Guard was about 6'6", Their Small Forward was about 6'8", so was their 4, and their Center was a huge 7'2" colossus. They looked like a freakin' NBA team. For all I knew, they were sponsored by Jordan Brand. I had blossomed into Goode's star ever since that first game. I glanced to our student section and smiled at my two best friends, Nico and Grover, and my girlfriend, Annabeth. We had gotten together over Winter Break when we went to a movie just to hang out. She asked me out, and I said yes, of course. Anyways, before the tip, I crossed myself, as usual. I saw my teammates do the same. We're Catholic, after all. The ref blew the whistle and tossed the ball in the air. For the first time all season, we lost the tip.

We got crushed.

At halftime, we were down 56-33. We went into the locker room with our spirit gone. For a few minutes, we just sat in a depressed silence. I had only scored four points and I shot poorly, though I had a steal, a block, and a few rebounds and assists. I had turned the ball over 6 times, though. We had to get something going in the second half. I heard them laughing and chatting and bragging next door. That made me flat out angry. I said, "Guys," their heads turned, "You hear that? They think they've won. They're cocky. When a team's cocky, they're weak. My bet is that they're going to put their bench in to start the half. We've got to take advantage. I'm sure as hell not gonna quit now. We can overpower their bench. Who's in?" Only David and Brandon came up and joined me.

Brandon said, " Guys, I'm not gonna lose this game. We gotta win for Bobby."

David said, "They're right. We've come too far to lose now."

"Now, WHO'S IN!"

**Line Break**

David inbounded the ball to me to start the third quarter, since we lost the opening tip. I came up and analyzed my defender. About six foot, strong, but slow. I dribbled straight up to him, stopped, then blew right by him for an easy dunk. We put full-court pressure on them. The inbounder didn't know what to do and called a timeout. Next time, he got a five-second violation. Luke was passing it in for us. He looked around and saw David cutting down the middle of the lane. He threw it up at the rim and let David do his thing. We put on full-court pressure again. This time, the guy threw it straight into Quinton's fingers. The ball went up in the air, and I leaped and grabbed it. I gave Brandon a bounce pass, and he laid it in. This time the guy inbounded it to a Guard in the corner, and Luke and I trapped him. He started thrashing, and I grabbed the ball. The ref called a jump ball. We had possession. I got the inbound and drove to the hoop. I slammed into their Center and laid it in with the foul. I sank the free throw. The Columbia coach called Time. We went to the huddle.

"Great job, guys," said Coach Carter, "Look, they're putting their starters in. Just keep doing what you're doing, and we'll be back in it in no time. It's only 8 points. All In on 3. 1…2…3…All In!" **(A/N: That's the AU Family!)**

We went back out and faced their starters. We battled back and forth all game until they led 87-86 with ten seconds left and they had possession. They couldn't find anyone, so their Point ran down the sideline. I followed. Jeez, that guy is _fast_. Their 3 bombed the ball to him. I caught up and swatted the ball away and chased it down at half-court. I barreled ahead, drove to the hoop, and fired a bounce pass to David, who dunked it with two seconds left. We were now up by one. They called their last timeout. They got the ball at the side of the court. The SF looked around and I followed his eyes to the hoop, where the 7'2" Center was calling for an alley-oop. I took off. He threw it up and I leaped at the same time as the Center. He caught the ball, threw it down…

And I stuffed him. The buzzer went off. We had won! David slung me over his shoulder and ran down the court laughing. I got off and found my girlfriend. You know what happened next. Then I got mobbed by my teammates in a dog pile. We went to half-court with everyone around us and shook hands with the other team. The NYHSA President presented us with our HUGE trophy and Columbia with a nice-sized one.

He said, "I would like to present the Most Valuable Player Award to Percy Jackson, who finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks."

I came up, received it, and said, "Everyone on this team deserves this award. I'm just the one receiving it. If I had to vote for MVP, I'd vote for all of y'all. Thank you for a great season. This sure feels sweet. But I know who's going to get this, and it's not me. I present this award to Bobby Perez, the spirit of our team. I'd like say that Columbia, you guys were _by far_ the best team we played this year. Y'all played great." I handed the trophy to Bobby. The President then called us up, one by one, to get our championship rings. We went back to the Locker Room and partied by spraying champagne everywhere. We went out to Taco Mac afterwards. We got free meals and watched basketball until ten o'clock when everyone left. I went back home, where my mom was running around our apartment laughing like crazy. I set my trophy on the table.

"Hey Mom"

"Great game honey! You were amazing. Listen, do you know how much Power Ball was last night? Its highest ever! 595 million!"

"So,"

"I won!"

I dropped my basketball bag. My jaw dropped I then started laughing.

"We're rich! We gotta start planning what to do!"

"Buy a penthouse!"

"Buy 10 sports cars!"

"Buy a beach house!"

"Go on tons of vacations!"

"Buy condoms!"

"What?"

"Nothing. Buy season tickets for all NY teams!"

"Who cares? Let's just buy a ton of shit!" We broke out laughing.

"This is gonna be AWESOME!"


End file.
